Seema Grewal

Imaging spotlight: Altair-LSFM - FocalPlane Imaging spotlight: Altair-LSFM - News

🔬🔦In this Imaging spotlight, Kevin Dean @kevin-dean.bsky.social and team tell us about their motivation for designing Altair-LSFM, describe its key features, how to setup and use the system and their planned developments.
focalplane.biologists.com/2026/03/09/i...

Such sad and shocking news. Alan was a big supporter of @biologists.bsky.social and was always so full of energy and ideas. Thoughts are with his family and friends.

Workflows for assigning proteins to unknown densities in cryo-EM maps. (A) For high-resolution regions, a backbone model is built into the map. Side chain densities at each position are assessed and used to query a sequence database to find the most likely candidate. Alternatively, the backbone model can be used to directly query a structure database to find proteins with similar folds. (B) For medium-resolution regions, a library of known or predicted structures can be rigid body-fitted into the map. The fits can be scored and ranked or otherwise assessed to determine the best fit. Images in B are published from Leung et al., 2025, where they were published under CC-BY 4.0 terms.

In this Perspective article, Miguel Ricardo Leung discusses how advancements in cryo-electron microscopy and machine learning-based structure prediction are enabling a ‘structure-first approach’ for discovering new proteins and interactions.
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

New JCS snapshot - Redefining colocalization analysis with a novel phasor mixing coefficient

Owen Puls @owfpuls.bsky.social presents the key findings from their recent JCS paper with Teng-Leong Chew @scopeshifu.bsky.social @hhmijanelia.bsky.social and team.
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Very proud to share our latest work, carried out with remarkable dedication by Léa and Claire.
Thanks to JCS for the Highlight, but also the wonderful First Author profile featuring Léa and Claire, as well as the journal cover showcasing the work.

OptoLoop – an optogenetic tool to probe the functional role of genome organization Summary: The development of OptoLoop – an optogenetic tool to induce chromatin looping in a controlled fashion using light and how this tool can be applied to study genome structure–function relations...

Want to try our new OptoLoop constructs for optogenetic control of chromatin looping?

Check out our plasmids now available at @addgene.bsky.social

www.addgene.org/browse/artic...

And don't forget to read our new article published in @jcellsci.bsky.social

journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Léa Marpeaux, Claire Baudouin, Gregory Emery @emery-lab.bsky.social and colleagues @umontreal.ca identify an apical supracellular actin network in epithelial cells that acts as a long-range force transmission device.

journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Great journal, great philosophy ❤️❤️❤️

bioRxiv continues to grow – a brief spike and lag in the pandemic (details of which are included) but a steady increase in submissions since then. % revisions, license choice, etc. all fairly constant. 0.1% withdrawal rate is comparable to journal retraction rates 2/n

Are you a budding science writer? ✍️

Then enter our science writing competition! Entries can be fiction or non-fiction. For more info and how to enter visit our website:
bscb.org/competitions...

Deadline 31st March

It’s FREE to publish in Journal of Cell Science – there are no page charges, colour charges or hidden fees. And if your institution has a Read & Publish agreement, you can publish immediate OA free of charge.

Find out more: journals.biologists.com/jcs/pages/re...

#forscientists
#notforprofit

Have you produced beautiful images as part of your cell biology research?

Then enter our image competition!

bscb.org/competitions...

Deadline 31st March

Check out last year's winner 'Brainbow' by Alvaro Castano

Are we having fun yet? Hey there! Yes, it's your old pal, Mole (emphasis on the old). It's a cold and blustery day, and I'm taking a little time off to have this chat with you, because, well, it's been a while. I hope you'r...

Are we having fun yet? *
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

* Does Mole have an ORCiD yet @jcellsci.bsky.social ?

Send us your stem cell manuscripts! Very easy to transfer from biorxiv and we can also quickly consider a manuscript based on reviews received elsewhere. JCS does a tremendous job of supporting the scientific community (see the link below). Reach out if you have questions!

📢📢📢Lectureships at Bristol!📢📢📢

We're hiring 3 x lecturers (=assistant professor) in Biological Sciences, across the discipline.

Great department, great colleagues, great building, great city

Details here:
www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

Are you working on stem cell biology? Our Academic Editor Aryeh Warmflash (@warmflashlab.bsky.social) is committed to handling articles on this topic so send your article our way.

There are lots of reasons to choose JCS – find out more: journals.biologists.com/jcs/pages/re...

#stemcells

We are grateful to @jcellsci.bsky.social for providing the opportunity to express our views on this matter and for the smooth handling of our correspondence piece. (11/12)

I guess this should be how science moves forward. In the end, nobody is certain about the root position at the moment. I like to thank @jcellsci.bsky.social for giving me an opportunity to respond to their comments and for publishing both articles open access. 11/n

The LECA had a conventional kinetochore and the kinetoplastid kinetochore is a derived feature – a critical evaluation of Akiyoshi, 2025 Summary:Akiyoshi, 2025 presented a hypothesis with implications for the early evolution of eukaryotes and eukaryotic cell division machinery. In this Correspondence, the authors conclude that this hyp...

Recently, a Hypothesis was posed in @jcellsci.bsky.social in which the root of eukaryotes was placed between kinetoplastids and all other eukaryotes. From this, it was implied that LECA did not have a kinetochore. We argue this is highly unlikely. A 🧵(1/12)

Read our reply here: tinyurl.com/n87myhpr

I appreciate the comments by Max Raas, Eelco Tromer and others on my paper published last year "Hypothesis that ancestral eukaryotes sexually proliferated without kinetochores or mitosis". However, I do not think their critiques can reject my hypothesis. For details, please read the paper. 1/n

Only a few spots left for this amazing meeting! Just sign up and join us to discuss all #cellbio #imaging things!

The abstract submission deadline for our upcoming 'Imaging Cell Dynamics' meeting is this Friday. We still have a few places remaining so apply now to secure your spot!

Find out more at:
www.biologists.com/meetings/jcs...

#imaging #microscopy #cellbiology

Special Issue Imaging Cell Architecture and Dynamics Guest Editors: Francesca Bottanelli and Giulia Zanetti Deadline: 1 April 2026 Journal of Cell Science Call for papers logo Image of a cell

We invite you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue - Imaging Cell Architecture and Dynamics. This issue will be coordinated by @franbottanelli.bsky.social and Giulia Zanetti, alongside our Editor @guijacquemet.bsky.social.
journals.biologists.com/jcs/pages/im...

Fill out our community survey to help shape the future of JCS Journal of Cell Science logo Line drawing of a group of people with speech bubbles above their heads

After 15 years as Editor-in-chief (EiC), Michael Way @drmichaelway.bsky.social will be stepping down at the end of 2026 & we are seeking feedback from the cell biology community as part of the consultation process for appointing a new EiC.
We'd love to hear from you: www.surveymonkey.com/r/GZCC9F9

We are hiring!

Please REPOST (“likes” don’t help in diffusion!) and consider applying: we work in such a fantastic context, we ask so interesting questions, and we have such a collegial and best-willing atmosphere… CRBM = Happy & Good Science

Also, thank you @jcellsci.bsky.social for featuring the article and also our first author, @owfpuls.bsky.social:
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/... 🧪

🧪 We are excited to share this novel open access paper on Phasor Mixing Coefficient to analyze colocalization, developed by folks @i2janelia.bsky.social and @aicjanelia.bsky.social. This is also the first technical paper jointly published with our sister imaging center @malacridalab.bsky.social!

Work for us Working for us We’re always looking for talented and motivated people to work as part of our close-knit team. Roles range from editorial to production, marketing to event co-ordination, HR to accounts...

We're hiring! JCS is looking for a Reviews Editor to join the team. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who loves cell biology and wants to stay connected with the field (and be part of an organisation that believes in supporting the community).
www.biologists.com/about-us/wor...

JCS cover. The cover image is an expansion microscopy image of a Chromera velia flagellate labelled with anti-tubulin antibodies (cyan)

Issue 1 is complete

Explore our ToC: journals.biologists.com/jcs/issue/13...

On the cover: an expansion microscopy image of a Chromera velia flagellate labelled with anti-tubulin antibodies (cyan). See article by Tengganu & Hu.
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...